Hi guys! Is it still
crazy hell-fire hot where you are even though it is October 2nd? It is supposed to be 91 here today….which is ridiculous. But it does cool off at night, so at least I
don’t wake up in a pool of my own sweat at night anymore. TMI?
Sorry. It’s just that I feel so
close to you.
Last weekend was the Candy Dance in Genoa, NV. It isn’t really a dance at all, but actually
a kick ass craft fair. Wait, there is
still a dance one night, but the craft fair is what it is all about. I have been to it twice before and it is
amazing. It really is the biggest and
best craft fair I have ever been too.
I guess the story behind it is…..a long, long time ago, like
1919…..the women of Genoa made and sold candy, and had a “Candy Dance” to earn
money for the town to buy street lights.
Somewhere along the line, it evolved into a craft fair, but they do
still sell candy.
I didn’t get to go this year. I was pissed.
So I made my own candy to make up for it. I might sell it for streetlights. What kind of candy, you ask? I made fudge.
It seems like everywhere you go in Northern Nevada, they
make their own fudge. Virginia City, Scheels,
The Chocolate Nugget, even the candy store in the Grand Sierra makes their own
fudge. They always have crazy flavors
too.
I have never made my own fudge the “real” way. I have made fudge the cheater way which
involves marshmallow crème, but never the authentic way which involves a candy
thermometer. It was easy, but it did
take some time.
The flavors I chose were Pumpkin Spice (duh) and Apple Cider
Fudge. I am going to be honest here….the
Pumpkin Fudge recipe is not mine. I
poached it right off the interwebz. I
used Allrecipes.com. Here is the link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-fudge-2/detail.aspx. Fudge is very scientific, and I just wasn’t
comfortable coming up with my own recipe.
I don’t excel at science. But…..I
did come up with the Apple Cider version.
Sort of. It is based on the
Pumpkin Fudge recipe….You’ll see.
For the pumpkin fudge, I used milk, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla
extract, pumpkin pie spice, canned pumpkin, butter and my own little touch was
mini chocolate chips. The recipe called
for walnuts. Gross.
The recipe starts with putting the milk, pumpkin, sugar and
corn syrup into a pot. This will boil
up, so use a pretty big pot. I’m not
saying you have to use a pot that you would boil lobsters in, but a pretty good
sized one is a good idea.
So I brought this to a boil over high heat, stirring the
whole time. Then, I reduced the heat to
medium and let the mixture come to 235 degrees, which is “soft ball”
stage. Don’t try to do this the old-fashioned
way….use a candy thermometer.
And oh yeah, during this part, you don’t stir.
This took a good 30 minutes to come to temperature. The good news is that since you aren’t
stirring, feel free to go do something else.
I watched Homeland.
Once the mixture came to 235 degrees, I removed it from the
heat and whisked in some butter, and the vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Now, the mixture has to sit until it is down
to 110 degrees. This took FOREVER. So, I watched another episode of Homeland.
Once the mixture was lukewarm, I beat it with a hand mixer
until it was thickened and less shiny.
The mixture will come together in a big mass in the middle of the
bowl. It won’t stay loose like cake
batter.
This takes about 5-10 minutes.
Lastly, I stirred in my mini chips. Since the mixture was still slightly warm,
the chips melt in and get all swirly and pretty…..
Like so. I poured
this into a greased 8x8 pan. This will
harden within a couple of hours.
Yum. Those ladies in
Genoa could sell a ton of this and buy a boatload of lights with this stuff.
I decided to try another version of this, using my own
ingredients. I decided to mimic the
flavors of apple cider. It was probably
one of the best ideas I have ever had.
Let me show you my version.
For my version, I used sugar (but ½ cup less than the
pumpkin version), milk, corn syrup, apple sauce, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie
spice, butter, dried apples and cinnamon chips.
Cinnamon chips are pretty readily available near the holidays. I got mine at the Walmartz. If you can’t find cinnamon chips, try
butterscotch chips. That would be pretty
good too.
I started the same way, with milk, corn syrup, sugar and
apple sauce.
I brought this to a boil over high heat while stirring, then
I reduced to medium and brought the temp to 235. And I watched more Homeland.
Then, I removed it from the heat and whisked in the butter,
vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. I had to
let it sit again to get it to 110. I
would have watched more Homeland, but by this point I had finished the first
season. So….I took a nap.
I woke up to chop my dried apples. These are sticky little buggers, so be
careful.
After the mixture had sat and cooled off, I beat it with the
hand mixer until it was thick and less glossy.
Then, I stirred in my dried apples and cinnamon chips. I almost ate the whole thing right here
because it smelled amazing. Like Christmas,
Thanksgiving and fall all rolled into one.
Greased 8x8 again…..and this sat for a couple of hours.
No offense to Ginger from AllRecipes….this one was better than
the pumpkin. The Pumpkin Fudge was no
slouch, but this one was rad. I’m trying
to bring that word back. Is it working?
Yum! Who’s coming
over since I now have two pans of fudge?
Please click on the link I posted above for the Pumpkin
Fudge recipe;)
Apple Cider Fudge
2 ½ cups sugar
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
½ cup apple sauce
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ cup butter (one stick)
½ cup dried apples, chopped
¼ cup cinnamon chips
In a large sauce pan, bring milk, sugar, apple sauce and
corn syrup to a boil over high heat, stirring the entire time. Once the mixture boils, reduce heat to medium
and bring mixture to 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Do not stir mixture.
Once mixture hits 235 degrees, remove from heat and whisk in
butter, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.
Let mixture sit until it reaches 110 degrees.
After the mixture has cooled to 110, beat with hand mixer
until mixture is thickened and loses shininess.
Stir in dried apples and cinnamons chips and pour into a greased 8x8
pan. Let sit for 3 hours.
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